Thursday, October 24, 2013

Soma 2014 Frame News: Version 3.0 of our 27.5"/650B B-Side

Just read Bike Magazine's online interview with Kirk Pacenti. I have to say cheers to Bike for bringing Kirk back into the spotlight at this time when 27.5"/650b tire size is finally being adopted by a slew of bike manufacturers both in the USA and Europe.
There's been a lot of press releases and ads from the big brands: One big brand new to the game offering new extensive research why they feel 650b is the better tire size of the three. Another reiterating they've been producing 650b bikes for years longer than anyone else. But none of these big brands giving much credit to Pacenti,who was truly the first to start pushing the "650b for MTB" concept to the industry.

It is awesome to see an interview that lets him answer the question... "How does it feel after years and years of trying to convince companies of its advantages to see it finally being widely adopted." We find it really satisfying.

Well we hope you will find some satisfaction (see what we did there) with what we are doing with the next generation B-Side SS/Geared hardtail frame.(Not available until January.) Gone is the classic NORBA/XC racing geometry. The new B-Side is now in "extra fun, trail bike" territory...allowing you to go faster in the rough stuff, but still lithe enough to be flickable and easily maneuverable.

Revamped geometry to take advantage of the true 27.5 specific forks designed by RockShox and Fox. We are optimizing the B-Side to run 100mm and 120mm travel forks with slack 69/68 degree head angle that has become almost the norm these days.

Machined 44mm headtube to increase stiffness and to be compatible with tapered steerer tube suspension fork

Beefed up the down tube with thicker and longer butts (but not to the all-mountain tank level)Tange Prestige heat-treated CrMo of course